


Expectations

by BastardBin



Series: Grian and Xisuma [1]
Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Decisions, Banter, Confusion, Gen, Grian's Awful Storage System, Hermitcraft - Freeform, Sickfic, Sort Of, grian takes a dive into cold water and has regrets, if grian had an alignment it would be chaotic chaotic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-13 05:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20169235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastardBin/pseuds/BastardBin
Summary: When Xisuma first invited a new Hermit to join them, though he wouldn't have said it out loud, he expected their newest addition to be quiet and shy. He'd expected him to just stick to himself, build nice things, and have to be brought out of his shell by the others.What he did not expect was the absolute force of chaos known as Grian, or the fact his community was about to be covered in chickens, or the fact Mumbo was going to end up without a mustache, or the plethora of other things Grian was responsible for.Naturally, when Grian has been quiet for too long and nothing's been on fire or blown up in several hours, suspicion drives Xisuma to go check up on their chaotic new member. It's probably good he did, too, since apparently Grian is also incapable of self care.





	Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> hi so i've been intending to write an xisuma "oh my god i expected cool builds and a hesitant new member not tnt everywhere and a literal prank war" fic forever and then the most recent chapter of Corrupted felt like it was trying to become a grian/xisuma thing so i had to spit this out lmao

If someone had asked Xisuma before it all started, he’d have said he wasn’t really sure what to expect. And in hindsight, he’d have been lying; he did expect something specific, he thought he knew exactly what was going to happen with the addition of their newest member.

He’d expected Grian to come in and build amazing things, and that much of course was proven correct. That’s of course all he knew for sure, too, and he had no doubt the builder would come in and put half of the rest of their building skills to shame. He was excited to see just how far that went. But that was all he’d known to expect, and anything else had been speculation, but part of him expected the new Hermit to be shy. He’d expected Grian to hide away at first, to be afraid to reach out or interact with the others until he got used to them. Maybe even more than that, he didn’t expect Grian to make his entrance into the community anything particularly notable, maybe out of that same shyness of not knowing everyone.

Oh, how wrong Xisuma had been.

And he’d thought he’d been right, too. The first few weeks passed with nothing out of the ordinary, nothing really having been heard from their new builder. Xisuma even made sure he was available in case their new, and seemingly shy member, needed anything. And Grian had indeed finally reached out, and as they conquered the water temple together, nothing had felt out of sorts nor had Grian given anything away about what was in his head. But it was the calm before the storm, it seemed, and in hindsight Xisuma  _ really _ should have questioned it a bit more when he found his base covered in chickens.

He just brushed it off, though. Then all hell broke loose.

It started with the chickens, and from what he heard, Mumbo was hit with them before he was. Then came Cub, smacking Xisuma with a tag that he would later learn was created by none other than Grian. Then, only a while later Grian came flying out of nowhere just to crash into his tree and explode redstone everywhere like some dramatic builder based firework. After that, from all the leader Hermit could tell, it leveled off. But oh, wrong he was again.

While Xisuma’s attention was elsewhere, it seemed, Grian had gotten very busy.

From drowning Iskall in Guardians, to following Mumbo around threatening his mustache, to more chickens, to flinging Jevin into gravity, to creating a room that literally broke reality, to more chickens  _ again, _ and then culminating in the literal all out war in which half of the other Hermits ended up involved with…

Not to mention a deadly pickle shop, pretending to become a phantom and burning to death on Mumbo’s crafting table,  _ actually _ stealing Mumbo’s mustache… and  _ even more chickens! _ Where did he even  _ get _ that many eggs?!

And that was only what Xisuma  _ knew _ about! Who knows what else Grian was up to while no one was actually looking?

To say he’d been wrong in what he’d expected from their newest member was a  _ major understatement. _

That’s why he was here now, looking up at the builder’s grand futuristic base with suspicion. It’d been too quiet lately; nothing being  _ mysteriously _ blown up or set on fire behind Xisuma’s back, no one complaining about haunted suits of armor chasing them around, no Grians running around in boats with villager copies of himself or claiming he’s from the future. And far, far less chickens. It was too peaceful, too relaxed, and if Xisuma had figured out anything about Grian, it meant he was either hoarding TNT or giggling to himself while building some sort of ridiculous or vaguely evil prank.

It was like having a child around, really. If he could hear the destruction, it’s probably fine, but as soon as it goes quiet was when Xisuma needed to be worried.

Gliding down into Grian’s base, the first thing he noticed was the absolute  _ mess _ of a storage system. How long had it been since Xisuma had seen it last? It was at least triple the size it was last time, with shulker boxes and chests scattered haphazardly halfway across the entire room. With a stroke of morbid curiosity, Xisuma peeked inside a yellow one, thinking it must be sand, surely? After all, Grian did run Sahara, and they had this whole thing about sand, and Xisuma himself would color code whatever went into his--

It contained sugar cane, gravel, chicken, and carpet. Xisuma closed it with a shudder, wondering how Grian could survive in such chaos. Actually, knowing him, that made a lot of sense.

That didn’t make it any less awful, though. Maybe he should donate a sorting system.

But that was a thought for another day, and it still didn’t tell him where the little prankster was. The base seemed empty, at least upon first glance; aside from the gigantic mess, the pristine white concrete lent itself well to a clean and crisp space, and made it easy to skim over and see everything. But it was that big mess where things could hide and disappear, and as Xisuma made his way through it just in case, was when he finally found his too-quiet source of chaos.

Curled up on his bed hidden away behind the wall of boxes and chests, covered in a mountain of blankets, was Grian. He was sitting upright, only his hair visible, and he didn’t seem to have noticed Xisuma’s presence yet. There was something off about him, though, and the leader found himself hesitating and trying to put the details together before disturbing him.

It was midday, long after Grian should have been out of bed. And sure, he could have slept in; but his hair was too dark, his shoulders were shaking, and the side of his face Xisuma could just barely see was a bit too pale to be safe. Suspicion turned to concern, and before he knew it, he was striding into the builder’s space and crouching down in front of him. Grian didn’t notice him still until Xisuma put a hand on his face, at which point he startled out of whatever stupor he was in and looked up, though his eyes didn’t really focus. Between that, and how cold his skin was, left the leader’s concern to increase tenfold.

“E-eh.. Suma?” Grian’s attempt at saying his name, watered down with pure confusion, made him narrow his eyes. He wasn’t sure what happened to the builder, but he clearly wasn’t all here. And upon closer inspection, his hair was drenched, his teeth chattering against the cold that his wet blanket was doing nothing to help.

“Come on, Grian.” Xisuma reached out, pulling the drenched builder out of his cold bed and to his feet. He swayed in place, threatening to tumble over on unsteady feet, but Xisuma pulled his arm over his shoulder and practically carried him over to the line of furnaces nearby. Grian didn’t put up a fight, just let himself be pulled along without a word. It was such a change in his usual demeanor that it made the leader uncomfortable, worry tugging at him from all directions as he tried to think of the best way to fix this mess.

Part of him was  _ really _ curious how this happened, and the other part of him was sure it had something to do with Grian’s out of control shenanigans. But he could scold him later, once he’d become more aware of his surroundings. For the time being, Xisuma found himself setting his half frozen Hermit up in front of the furnaces and digging through the mess of boxes that was supposedly a storage area. It really was a mess, and after the third box filled with at least sixteen different and completely unrelated items, Xisuma swore he really  _ was _ going to donate a storage system to this little gremlin.

Finally he found the stash of coal, which was in a blue shulker box instead of a black one and Xisuma was nearly ninety percent sure that Grian was actually colorblind because there was  _ no way _ someone could be  _ this _ chaotic, and chucked it into the furnaces. The fire roared to life in no time at all, creating a comfortable warmth that made the leader feel better with Grian sat beside it. He was still shaking, and it would be awhile before he dried off, but as the seconds ticked by Xisuma could see him becoming more aware.

It still didn’t feel like enough, though, so even though he’d rather never go anywhere near Grian’s hoard ever again, Xisuma found himself digging through boxes again. Of course the red shulkers yielded nothing but a  _ concerning _ amount of TNT, that he was actually half tempted to confiscate for Grian’s own safety if nothing else, and the brown shulkers for some reason were filled with water buckets. He did for one moment think he’d found the right one when he found a purple shulker filled with steak and various other foods, but no, there were no mushrooms in sight.

Really, did Grian have some sort of vendetta against proper organization? This was just ridiculous.

Finally, he found them in a chest along with paper, glass, and wood. Why he’d store mushrooms with those things, Xisuma was too afraid to ask at this point, and just shook it from his head while putting them together into a stew. Aside from how long it took to sift through the hundred some odd boxes, he had the bowl set in the hot furnace in no time, and Grian perked up along with the smell.

“What… Xisuma?” The builder asked after he’d looked around and caught sight of the leader sat to the side of him. His face pulled in confusion, his frizzing hair sticking up in random directions as he looked around again. “Wasn’t I just… how’d I get over here? What are you doing here?”

“I think a better question is what in the world happened to you, Grian?” Xisuma finally voiced, his curiosity and concern more than piqued. As he spoke, he pulled the now very warm soup from the furnace and gently pushed it into Grian’s hands. “Eat that and explain. No arguing.”

Grian blinked down at the bowl in his hands for a few moments, as if considering something, before shrugging and downing it in one go. There was much more color in his face now, and Xisuma could guess his skin was probably warm to the touch again as it should be, though he resisted the urge to check. Once Grian came up for air again, there were a few moments of expectant silence as the leader waited for an explanation on what the  _ hell _ happened.

Finally, Grian seemed to put everything together, and his face turned a bit red. “Well… uh. Funny story, actually.”

Xisuma raised an eyebrow. When Grian said nothing, he sat up straighter and crossed his arms, pinning the Hermit with a stare that made it clear he wasn’t interested in excuses or deflections. Grian gave him a sheepish half smile.

“I was, uh… trying to set up a prank for Iskall and I… fell in the water… maybe?”

Sighing, Xisuma resisted the urge to facepalm the front of his helmet. “I can’t say I’m surprised  _ that’s _ how you ended up half frozen.” He really wasn’t. It was no wonder this all came about from a failed prank, considering they were half of what Grian did, some were bound to fail and some were especially bound to be detrimental to his health. “I didn’t expect to come here and have to thaw you out, though.”

“Sorry, X.” Grian did look guilty, probably for either making Xisuma take care of him or for making him worry. At the sight of the builder’s downturned face, Xisuma reached out and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay. Just be more careful next time, okay?” He encouraged, earning an enthusiastic nod from his newest Hermit. Then, with a wink he added, “Besides, when you  _ do _ prank Iskall, it’ll be funnier if you don’t get a cold in the process, right?”

At that, Grian grinned with that same vaguely evil prankster air he tended to have. “You’re right.” He agreed, clearly already formulating his next plans. Chuckling, Xisuma let go and stepped away, turning for the entrance to the base.

“If you need help, just come get me. I’d rather have to help you cause some trouble than fish Grian ice cubes out of the ocean.”

If possible, Grian’s smirk turned even more mischievous. “I’ll remember that, X-eye-zoo-ma-vee-oid.”

That was better. “I’ll keep an eye out for you at my base, Gee-are-ee-an.”

With that, he took off, escaping from the builder’s messy hoard of an otherwise clean cut base and hearing Grian’s laughter follow him out. Yes, he had expected something completely different with Grian’s arrival to the community; but he had to say, he thoroughly enjoyed how much fun he’d breathed back into their lives, and he couldn’t have asked for a better person to join.

Even if a week later he found himself looking up at the most  _ ridiculous _ three houses he’d ever seen in his life towering over Hermitville, and didn’t have to think twice to know Grian was involved, he knew inviting Grian was the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> xisuma arriving to find grian sick/out of it was a last minute decision when i couldnt think of what to actually have happen in this fic ngl  
also im really coming to love all the different hermits and xisuma is the newest one i've gotten super attached to. i've gotta do more involving him


End file.
